Sacrifices
by Red-Wine-And-Roses
Summary: When a transmutation to give the Elric brothers goes terribly wrong, Roy and Riza find themselves trying to raise a family. But what will they do when a young Alphonse get's deathly ill?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N H'Okay!..Here we go! As warned in my bio thinger, I was a previous author here, and I will be re writing and re-submitting alot of my old work. This is one of them! I have 4 chapters written for this fic already, eand with each submitted chapter, I will be writing a new one! There will be a new chapter every Tuesday! So read, enjoy, and review!**

**DISCLAMER: I do NOT own FMA or any of its characters ):**

To Raise A Child  
>Fullmetal Alchemist<p>

Chapter One

_The Philosophers Stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivlent exchange in Alchemy. A gain without sacrifice,_

_create without equal exchange. We searched for it...and we found it. _

Seventeen year old Edward Elric looked down at the small red stone in his gloved hand.

It had taken the Elric brothers 5 years of pure hell to get their hands on the stone, and after walking through the gates of hell,

shaking hands with the devil, and walking back, they got it.

They were going to get their bodies back once and for all.

The thought made Edward grin.

"Edward..."

A stern voice cut through the boys thoughts like a knife through warm butter.

He turned around, closing his hand around the stone, and faced the dark haired man behind him.

Roy Mustang.

A good friend to the brothers, no matter how hard Edward tried to deny it.

He had helped and witnessed all they had been through, and stuck with them through it all

even when life was hard for Mustang himself.

"You ready, Ed?"

Roy asked, a little too, seriously.

Edward just smiled wordlessly, handed the stone to the off duty militant, and walked over to the middle of the recently created array

where his younger brother, Alphonse, waited.

Only two days earlier Ed had asked Roy to preform the transmutation.

Alphonse and Ed had decided that it would be easier if they were both transmuted at the same time, and that they wouldn't

have to chance the entire stone being used up on just Alphonse.

Roy accepted gladly, though they had to wait a good six months for everything to calm down before the transmutation was done.

They were a long six months, and a couple times Edward almost went off on his own with Al to get the transmutation over with and done.

But there would be no more waiting now.

They found an abandoned apartment building, and chose to do it there.

They cleared off the second floor mezzanine, and transmuted the abandoned belongings to

board up the windows and doors, just incase someone saw the bright lights, they'd for sure

have the military up their asses.

They were taking a big enough chance right now with the human transmutation, and it was said that

if the Philosophers Stone were to be retrieved, it was Military property.

Roy was turning his back and it was a huge chance.

Especially with being Fuhrer.

Standing in the center of the array now, Edward nodded towards Mustang,

silently giving him the O.K.

Roy nodded back and got, gently, onto his knees.

He placed the red stone carefully against the rim of the array, and looked at it softly.

_This had better work..._he thought. _For them...this better work.._

He looked back up to the brothers one more time before clapping his hands and slamming them against the linoleum floor.

Almost instantly the room filled with a sour yellow light, and the wind picked up swirling in a perfect circle around the boys.

Staring at the scene, Roy couldn't help but smile.

"Its working..."

He spoke aloud.

"It's working!"

He laughed to himself, and as soon as he began to laugh, the sour yellow turned to a violent purple, and his smile faded. The wind had become harsher, and the lights around the room exploded.

Roy ducked from the flying glass that had now wound itself into the violent wind.

With panic setting in, and his heart racing, Roy pulled his hands away from the circle, and the purple light exploded,

sending Roy flying across the room.

He hit his head on the floor, and blacked out immediatley.

**A/N So! P****lease, don't hate! Review! And let me know what you think :)**

**-MRW**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own FMA or ANY of its characters ):**

To Raise A Child

Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter Two

_White._

_As far as I could see, all was white._

_There was no sound, save the sound of my footsteps, and there was nothing in the room. _

_The floor was white, the walls were white, and no matter how long I walked there was no end to the _

_room. _

_Only minutes before I was face to face with violent purple winds, and now...white._

_"What happened...?"_

_I asked to noone._

_I wasn't expecting an answer, but got one anyway..._

_"You screwed up, Roy."_

_That voice..._

_I turned around, and sure enough...as I thought...Maes stood behind me. _

_A grim look on his face._

_Tears sprung to my charcoal eyes, and when I moved forward in a motion to hug my old friend, _

_Maes moved backward. Away from me._

_I was naturally taken aback._

_"Maes..."_

_"Roy you have to listen to me, you don't have much time."_

_The dark haired man warned._

_I waited. _

_"I'm going to tell you right now, the transmutation was a mild sucess, and those boys are lucky to have survived your stupidity."_

_I opened my mouth in a motion to speak, but Maes cut me off._

_"They are alive, but not how you remember them. One is older than the other, in a five year difference, and they don't remember much. The last thing either can remember is their mother."_

_A tear escaped, and I did nothing to stop it._

_"Now, what is going to happen next will change your life. These boys are young and quite vulnerble. You will have to raise them."_

_I gasped, like someone had kicked me hard in the chest, and I suddenly found it very hard to hold myself up._

_"It will not be easy. I'm telling you now Roy. To gain is to lose, and there will come a time where you will have no say in what happens with the boys. It will be hard on you all, and you will feel like you can't do it, and you're going to break. But you have to be strong._

_If not for you, then for Edward."_

_I looked up._

_"Edward? What about Alphonse? Maes, I don't understand."_

_Maes just smiled sadly._

_"Go Roy. They need you now, and I've told you all I can."_

_I shook my head in protest, and tried to call out to Maes, but he disappeared, as did the ground beneath me, and all went black..._

He opened his eyes, and found himself drenched in sweat. It took him a little while to figure out where he was, and what had just happened with

Maes and...the boys!

Roy shot up from his laying position, and looked frantically around the room.

Glass and rubble littered the room, the boards that had been transmuted onto the windows and doors were in splinters.

He pushed himself up and immediatley caught sight of two boys.

One was about 10 years old, maybe 11 and he wore clothes that were way too big for him. He stood up on his tip toes and looked to be trying

to pry off the wood from one of he boarded windows.

The other looked to be about 6 and he had a large red coat wrapped around him. He sat with the 10 year old, cozied in his arms.

It took Roy a minute to adjust his thoughts.

_"One is older than the other, in a five year difference, and they don't remember anything. Not their mother, not you, not the hell they so bravely walked through. Nothing."_

"Edward..?"

The older blonde stopped prying at the window, and stumbled away from the window in surprise.

"What?"

The child asked, utterly lost as to what was going on.

Roy was standing now, and found himself unable to move.

"How do you know my name?"

The boy asked, he seemed to be trembling, and Roy only realized then how cold it really was in the room.

Some of the windows were wide open, and the snow from outside had found its way in.

The smaller boy sneezed, and 'Edward' held him tighter, immedatley worried.

His gaze was still on Roy.

"Who are you?"

He asked.

"Why do you have us here. What do you want?"

He was looking back at Roy now.

"How long have you boys been here?"

He asked, ignoring the tiny Edward's questions.

How was he supposed to answer them? They didn't know him anymore, and if he was going to

raise these boys like Maes had told him he would have to, then he had to gain their trust and

not look like a freak.

Thankfully, what Roy had asked seemed to have taken away the thought of Edwards questions,

because he shrugged, and sat down.

"I don't know. When I woke up, you and my brother were sleeping and it was dark. Then the sun came up again, and it went away a little while ago."

_My brother._

It relieved Roy in the absolute slightest to know that at least Edward had some recollection of his past.

Roy thought over what Edward had just said.

It was dark...the sun came up...and went away..

An entire day.

He had been knocked out for an entire day.

This was going to, no doubt, cause huge problems with the military.

The Fuhrer just didn't go up and missing for a day. He couldn't.

He also couldn't just take the Philosophers Stone, and disappear with it, along with one of the greatest Alchemists in the military...But this would be a problem for later.

A car passed by outside, sending the lights streaming into the building, and just for a quick second Roy caught a glimpse of the boys, and the shape they were in.

Edward was shaking mildly, his hair was wet and matted, and he sat almost ontop of Alphonse, directly under a window. The snow from outside had found its way onto his hair and shoulders, his lips were blue, and aside from the coat he was completley naked, and was shaking terribly, teeth chattering.

Roy took a step forward, and looked at Edward for a breif moment before forcing himself to a hault.

"Hey."

He called over to Alphonse.

"Can you tell me your name?"

Al said nothing, and Edward shook his head.

"I tried that already..I can't tell if he's okay or not.."

Roy looked over to Edward, who was looking over at Alphonse.

"You spoke to him? What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything. I don't think he can. Everytime he opened his mouth, his teeth would chatter, and then he'd go quiet again."

Alarmed, Roy didn't think about anything, all he knew was that he had to get these boys warm, or pneumonia would surely set in...If it haden't already.

He walked over to Alphonse, and stopped in front of him.

"Come on little one, I'm taking you someplace warm."

He bent down to look at the boy in the eyes.

Instead of the smile he was hoping to find, he found nothing. His bronze orbs were empty.

But as soon as Roy made the motion to pick him up, Alphonse pushed himself further up against Edward.

Roy caught on.

"Don't worry. Edward is coming too."

"Where are we going?"

Edward asked, once Alphonse was safely in Roys arms.

"We're going home, Edward. We're going home..."

**A/N Isn't Alphonse the cutest thing alive! I could scoop him up and eat him ^^ I really liked what I did with the Roy and Maes encounter :) It was different and I decided to try it! Any comments? If you do... . You all gets cookies :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own FMA or ANY of its characters ):**

Sacrifices

Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter Three

Thankfully, before the Transmuatation, Edward had decided to do it closer to the Fuhrers house, since it might just happen that Al wouldn't remember how to walk.

Neither of the younger boys had had shoes, and so Roy had to carry them both.

It wouldn't have been such a problem in the summer time, Roy reassured himself, but in the middle of Janurary...It was hell.

That, and it didn't look very good for a military man to be carrying two children in his arms at one o'clock in the morning.

But they made it.

Edward had fallen asleep in Roys arms, but upon reaching the mansion gates, Alphonse smiled.

Reaching the front door , Roy set the two boys down, and the door swung open before he could even reach his house key.

It was a violent opening, and the door smacked Roy in the face, causing him to stumble backwards, and fall down the three small stairs into the snow.

Ed jumped in surprise, and Al let out a loud shriek.

"Roy Mustang!"

An angry voice yelled.

"Where the hell have you been? You disappear with Edward and Alphonse, almost two days ago, and then you deicde to pop out of nowhere, without a phone call! Do you know that the ENTIRE miltary is looking for you!"

Roy pushed himself up, brushing the snow off his shoulders.

"Nice to see you too, Riza."

The angry blonde kept her furious gaze on Roy, until Alphonse let out another whimper.

She quickly looked down at the to half naked boys on her doorstep, and her rage only grew.

"Kids? Really, Roy? Where did you get them? You know we can't raise kids!"

Roy pushed himself up onto his feet, and made his way back up the stairs to the crying Alphonse. He picked him up and looked at

Riza in the eyes.

Ignoring her fury, he placed his free hand on Edwards tiny shoulder.

"You know them, Riza, and if you aren't up for raising them, I understand, I'll do it myself. But this is what I need to do."

She shot an angry glare at Roy before looking down at the boys.  
>Riza looked at them carefully. The younger one she couldn't place, but the older one, had those golden eyes that she could never forget.<p>

It hit her immediatley, and she looked at Roy, sadness in her eyes.

"Roy...what happened?"

Her voice cracked, but she kept her composure.

Roy took in a deep breath.

"Riza..These boys are freezing, let us inside and I'll talk to you there."

Immediatley, she moved out of the doorway and Roy escorted Edward in, Alphonse shaking violently in his arms.

Riza closed the door behind them, and rushed to the bathroom to get some warm towels.

Roy set Alphonse down in front of the fireplace, and Edward moved close to him.

Riza came back a couple minutes later with two towels, and two giant housecoats.

She bent down in front of Alphonse, and set the towels and coats down beside him.

"Alright. I need you to be a big boy, and you need to give me your coat. I'll wash it, and give it back to you when its dry. Okay?"

Alphonse looked at Edward for some sort of comfort, and the older boy stood up immediatley.

"No. Leave him alone."

Riza sighed, her eyes sad.

"Please, if he keeps the coat on, he'll get very very sick. We don't know how sick he is right now, and we need to make sure he's okay, and get him the help he needs, if he needs it."

Edward was very hesitant, but he moved to the side.

Hesitantly, Alphonse removed his jacket.

His hair was long, and stopped down the middle of his back. Without squinting, anyone could easily count every single one of his ribs, his arms were thin, and his legs looked like they were going to give out at any moment.

From the back, where Roy stood, you could see his hips sticking out, and count every one of his spinal disks.

Riza gasped, and Roy could do nothing but stare.

Quickly she picked up one of the housecoats, and wrapped it around him.

Shivering, he took it gratefully, and cozied up to it. With the housecoat around him, Riza then wrapped the towel around him, and turned to Edward.

He looked at her, and then without word, began to strip his clothing.

He seemed to be in much better shape than Alphonse.

Riza took a deep breath, and handed him the housecoat and towel. He wrapped himself up, and tossed her a thanks.

Roy ran his fingers through his hair, and he let out a heavy sigh.

"I'll be back in a bit. I'm going to get in touch with everyone on search, and let them know to call it off."

Riza nodded, and watched as he disappeared up the stairs.

She stood up, and looked back at the boys.

"Are you boys hungry?"

She asked, calmly.

Alphonse looked again at Edward, who nodded.

"Yeah...A little.."

She gave them a smile, and nodded over to the kitchen.

"Then lets get you something to eat. How does...stew sound?"

Edwards eyes lit up,

"Yeah! I love stew!"

Riza laughed a little.

"Alright...Then stew it is."

In the kitchen, the stew sat on the stove, and Edward and Alphonse sat quietly at the table.

A couple books had to be set under Alphonse so that he could reach the table.

Edward laughed at this.

Standing at the stove, Riza turned away from the pot and looked over at the boys.

They hadn't spoken to each other, but Alphonse had seemed to look over to Edward for advice, and it was given.

This had Riza curious, and since Roy was busy dealing with the military, she wanted to see how much she could get out of them, since Roy had given her nothing.

"So...Can you tell me your names?"

She decided to start with the easiest of all questions.

Edward kept his eyes on the table.

"Edward...and he's Alphonse."

Riza nodded, turning back to the stove.

"Alright...Can you tell me how old you guys are?"

"I'm 10," Edward spoke up again, "...I'm not sure about Al..He looks alot younger than I remember.."

Riza turned the burner down on the stove, and turned back around.

She opened her mouth to talk, but Edward silenced her by speaking first.

"Who are you guys? Why are we here? What did you do to my brother? Where's our Mom?"

Edward was standing now, and Alphonse just kept quiet.

Riza didn't know what to say. What could she say? She didn't even know what was going on.

Should she leave it to Roy to explain? Or make up something then convince Roy to go along with it..?

"We found you."

Roy blurted from the corner of the kitchen.

Riza, Edward and Al all looked over to him.

He had undressed from his military uniform and now wore a pair of khaki pants and a white t-shirt.

"Why did you find us..? M-Mommy says that when you find something that doesn't belong to you, you should...leave it where you found it, so that it can be found proper.."

It was Al who spoke up, and his voice was barely audible.

Roy looked heartbroken.

"I mean..no..You won't understand it..Just..eat up, and when you're done I'll explain to you as much as I can.."

**A/N Alright. This is all I have for now, but don't you worry my children :) As I said WAAY before, when ever I post a chapter, I will write one while the previous is up! So, please review, and stay tuned ;)**


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